New venues for Sony Ericsson Championships

The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour recently announced where the season-ending Sony Ericsson Championships will take place over the next six years. After November’s final staging in Madrid they will be held in Doha, Qatar in 2008-2010, then in 2011-2013 they will take place in Istanbul, Turkey.The winner of the 2008 event will pocket a record $1,485,000, while the total tournament prize money for the eight-woman event will be $4.45 million, which is equal to that of the ATP’s season-ending Championships, the Tennis Masters Cup.“The awarding of our Sony Ericsson Championships to Qatar represents an exciting continuation of our strategy to showcase the very best of women’s tennis in different regions and markets throughout the world,” said Tour chief executive Larry Scott. “Doha has been a longstanding supporter of women’s tennis, including having held the first women’s professional tennis event in the Middle East in 2001, and has demonstrated the ability to successfully host world class sporting events such as the 2006 Asian Games.”A brand new 10,000-seat stadium will be built in Turkey when the Championships move to Istanbul in 2011.“Istanbul is one of the world’s great capitals, and will be a fantastic home for the Championships,” said Scott. “We are thrilled that our sport’s tremendous growth over the past years, coupled with the excitement surrounding our Roadmap plan, has built an unprecedented equity in our Sony Ericsson Championships. "Women’s tennis is growing in popularity at an incredible pace in Turkey thanks in large part to the success of the Istanbul Cup, and we believe that bringing our season-ending finale and the world’s very best players to Turkey will significantly increase the stature of our sport in this key market and region.”Ana said: “It’s exciting that we get the chance to play in these new places and experience new cultures. I have never played in Turkey, and only once in Doha, so it would be great to compete there. But of course nothing is guaranteed and I’m going to work very hard to qualify.”